standard and poor's even lowered its rating on u.s. government bonds. now, the president has proposed he be given authority to raise the debt ceiling without congressional action. house republicans reject that idea. and they've called for raising revenue without rate hikes, plus major savings in entitlement programs. the president argued today a partial deal is possible on taxes, if the g.o.p. will agree to raise rates on the top 2%. >> and if we can get the leadership on the republican side to take that framework, to acknowledge that reality, then the numbers actually aren't that far apart. another way of putting this is, we can probably solve this in about a week. >> reporter: despite issuing a warning to congressional republicans, the president also expressed optimism that some gop lawmakers may be warming to the idea of allowing taxes on the wealthy to rise. but here at the capitol today, congressional republican leaders said the president should focus less on tax increases and more on spending cuts >> we put an offer on the table. now he has out of